The Keys To Eternity
by Six-Shot Marker
Summary: When realities clash, what becomes of the two worlds?
1. Intro To The Gate

**The Key to Eternity**

* * *

"Namikaze-sama. The ambassador from Suna is waiting for you," his assistant spoke quietly. Namikaze nodded to the woman signaling to send her in. She bowed slightly, her petite frame doubling over to the blonde man across the room. She shuffled out, and then allowed another to come in.

The woman strode through the door and into the room, where she sat in one of the two chairs set in front of his desk. "Hey Temari," he said, broad smile spread across his face.

"Hello, Hokage-sama."

He frowned, "No need to be so formal, at least call me by my name."

"Yes, Namikaze-sama."

_Ah well, good enough, I suppose._ He gazed at the woman sitting at the front of his redwood desk. "So Temari, how goes the business in Suna?"

"Well, liaison with Iwa is going well, we sent an ambassador to their land to create a treaty of some kind to help relations, and we need additional human resources to pave the roads for trade. I sent in a form to administration."

"I'll see that it gets approved," he cut in.

"Thank you," she replied, "we are still clearing and stabilizing the area around Oto and Ame. There are still remnants of the forces that once controlled that area. Soon, we could install a new village and leader, maybe set up a joint-village outpost, for inter-continental relations. It would be a wonderful experiment and it has a very central location."

"That's an interesting proposal," the Hokage thought aloud, "is there anything else that you need to report or propose?"

"No sir, everything else, I will say to the joint council tomorrow."

"Alright," he said, standing to shake her hand, "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Oh, wait," she said, "There is one other thing."

"What is it?"

"Gaara told me, to ask you about everything on the _Gate of Eternity_."

Namikaze Naruto sighed. He gestured with his hand toward the seat, which she willingly took. He bent down and pressed the intercom that paged his assistant right outside the door. "Kaori. Free up the rest of my afternoon. Temari-san's also. And, tell Sakura I'll be late for dinner."

There was a pause, "Yes Namikaze-sama."

Naruto turned on his heel, and gazed out the window toward the city. "We'll be here a while, do you need anything to eat?"

"No."

"So, what do you need to learn?"

She paused and sighed, in a surprisingly Naruto-like manner. "I _want_ to hear everything."

* * *

Alright kids, I had a brain-surge, and this is what I came up with. This will be around ten chapters, not counting the prologue (this chapter) and the epilogue. I have high hopes for this, as it's my first multi-chapter fic. Thus, go easy please?

Thank you all,

Six-Shot Marker


	2. The Gatekeeper

**The Keys to Eternity**

* * *

"Get your ass back here Uzumaki!" Sakura cried through the streets of Konohagakure. She hounded him, twisting and dodging through the crowded streets of the Market District, near where he lived. "When I get my hands on you, I'm gonna gut you, pulverize you, _castrate_ you, and then heal you to do it all again!" She cried out in frustration. "I'm going home. You better come and apologize!" 

She turned on her heel and stormed on home. In the background, two men stood on a roof top, one a very sunny blonde, the other with silvery white hair. The latter laughed at the former, and asked, "What the hell did you do to get her so mad?"

"Oh, some offhanded comment that she gained a few pounds when she weighed herself this morning," Kakashi blurted out in laughter.

"Are you asking for a death wish?"

"I happen to think that she looks too skinny for her own good."

Kakashi sighed at Naruto's naivety, "Naruto, women are very sensitive on how they look. You should know that, and Sakura is especially sensitive. So, go over to your apartment, say you're sorry, and pray to God that she doesn't flatten you too hard."

"Should I wait it out a while?"

"Better that you do it soon as possible."

Naruto thanked Kakashi and thanked God that he had a sensei who was well versed in the ways of the world. He left his former master, and hopped onto Main Street to start making his way to the apartment they shared. Next to Kakashi, another figure appeared. Sasuke. "How bad do you think she's going to break the poor kid?" he asked jokingly.

"Worse than she did when you came back to the village."

Sasuke winced, "Ooo, I feel for him."

Kakashi laughed, "Naw, I was kidding. He's not going to get hurt that bad. Three broken bones at the most."

* * *

Naruto ambled to his front door cautiously. He placed his hand on the handle and twisted to find that it was locked. "Shit." He fumbled around his person for his keys and found out in his haste to get out of the house (and not get killed by Sakura who was directly in range of his knife collection, which as a hazard to _his_ health, he now decided to get rid of) left his keys inside his abode. 

So, being a ninja, he decided to pick his own lock.

As he ninja'ed his way into the apartment, he found Sakura on the couch, with a rigor mortis like grip on one of Naruto's favorite cleavers. She turned her head slowly toward him, and smiled eerily. "Hey baby," he said nervously.

"Naruto, I seem to have a problem with my hearing. I would like to think that you _didn't_ say that I gained weight, but I don't know. Now, tell the truth. Did you say I gained weight?" She actually meant, _I __don't care__ if you lie, tell me that I'm the appropriate size or I'll chop you in half with my cleaver._

Naruto walked up to her, and took the knife out of her hand. He stood her up and grasped her hands. "Now Sakura," he started, he could feel her strong grip, warning _If you say anything wrong, I'll rip your hands off,_ "I don't care what anyone says about you," her grip tightened, and was starting to get uncomfortable, "I think that you are the most beautiful thing I have ever laid my eyes on, and your weight doesn't mean anything to me, and it better not mean anything to anyone else."

She smiled at him, and he embraced her. He inwardly sighed with relief, _I'm safe!_

* * *

Naruto and Sakura walked into the Hokage's office. Tsunade had requested the two of them and Team Kakashi to report for an announcement and for missions briefing. Inside were Kakashi and Sasuke, "Wow, the dobe's still alive." 

Sakura stuck her tongue out, "Screw you, Sasuke."

Naruto surveyed his surroundings. The chair where Tsunade sat was empty, "Oi Teme, where's Obaa-chan?"

He pointed to the airspace behind Naruto, which was recently empty, but was now occupied by a woman who stared angrily at the boy. "I'll let that one slide, Naruto, but next time, your ass is gone."

Naruto smirked, "Yes'm."

She came around the desk and sat down. Tsunade whipped out a scroll from what seemed like nowhere, and laid it down in front of Naruto. "As you all should know, I'm soon retiring, thus, I have to choose a successor, and as fate would have it, I've chosen Naruto."

This was no new news; they've known that she chose Naruto months ago. "So, as I soon relinquish my powers, I need you all to assist Naruto in carrying on the torch and the secrets of the five nations. You all will be led to a certain place, where you will meet certain people who will show you things."

"What things are we going to do?" Sasuke asked, he did not like surprises, or risking his life.

"All in time," she said, handing each of them a scroll. "These scrolls are not complete and you are not to show anyone your side of the scroll nor are you to look at the others' scroll until the end of the mission, when you will be debriefed. This is classified as Twin Snakes, for it contains secret information about the five great nations."

And they were dismissed.

* * *

"So if we read it to each other, then technically, we won't be breaking the rules, right?" 

"The dobe has a point."

Sakura huffed. They sat in the small apartment that Naruto and Sakura shared, and they were discussing the new mission that had been placed in front of them, and had a hefty pay. Over twenty-thousand ryo, and a four thousand advance to add upon it. But the risks of these missions were high, and the death percentile was 98.9. "It would still be like cheating. And it has a Twin Snakes classification. Double-S. I don't think that we should break the rules."

"Aww, Sakura, c'mon," Naruto whined.

Kakashi sat, and said "The more we know about the mission the better. And I'm almost sure Tsunade knows we will."

"So it's settled."

"Yes."

"Alright," Naruto said, and he opened his scroll. "Aww shit, it's in kanji."

Sasuke laughed. "Are you sure you got the right one?"

"It's fine, I can read it," Naruto said, grudgingly. He read down one line and said, "These things that are in line, things we can not be held accountable for, things we count fine, nor real itself. These are the Keys to Eternity."

All of Team Kakashi said at the same time, "What the hell?"

* * *

"So you all understand the mission?" 

"To a point," Sasuke said cryptically. "Just what are we supposed to go on, when we get to Point Alpha?"

"That is classified. You are only supposed to get to Point Alpha, meet with the correspondent informant, bring back the information, and do this by midnight tonight," Tsunade then said. She wasn't giving out anything. "You may leave now."

"Yes'm."

They left the Hokage Administration Complex, and made their way to the gate. Genma and Raido stood in the gate checkpoint, checking the passports and papers of immigrating businessmen and civilians who came into Konoha. Kakashi went up to them, and gave them the clearance papers. "So Kakashi, what kind is it this time? Another solo mission?" Genma asked attentively.

Kakashi pointed to his team behind him, then said, "Double-S class, I can't say anything more, you know that."

Upon the mention of a "Double-S" Genma straightened up and clearly checked the papers. He stamped all of the required fields, and said, "Every thing seems to be in order. Kakashi, godspeed."

Kakashi nodded, and the four-man cell went out of the city. As soon as they left, they came up into the trees for stealth, and started sprinting. No one would know what they were headed for, not even themselves.

* * *

"Where should we set for midday R&R?" 

Kakashi dropped down, and landed on a soft bed of fallen leaves. "There's a stream nearby. Sasuke, scout it out. Sakura, find our exact position and find out where Point Alpha is from here. Naruto, canteens, fill 'em up."

They all split up to fill out their assigned jobs. Sakura whipped out a grid map as if from nowhere. She found them and said, "We're here," she said pointing to a green area, "exactly 1.0023 Degrees North Juliet, and 9.1 Degrees West Echo. Now Point Alpha is just a couple clicks upward. Right here in the red."

"The red? I'm not familiar with this type of map."

"Areas that are occupied by hostile forces. In this case, the Hidden Cloud."

Kakashi scoffed, "Oh great. Now we're going to invade a hostile territory."

Sakura thought, "If we can skirt near the river, we can be able to move around the Cloud outpost."

Naruto and Sasuke came up. Naruto handed Kakashi and Sakura their canteens, and Sasuke said "The stream is safe, we can stay there for a couple minutes, maybe for an hour if we're lucky. Couldn't count on it though, Cloud sends scouts all the hell around this area."

"Alright, you have ten minutes. If you hear anything, send out distress routine seven. We'll meet here in fifteen."

They nodded and disappeared.

* * *

"I got two on my sights," Sasuke said over the radio. 

"Civilians?"

"I can't confirm. Too far." Sasuke crouched and hunkered back farther from his hiding place in the trees. He saw something reflect off the foreheads of the two men. "Not civilians, I repeat, not civilians. Eliminate."

"Naruto, Sakura, proceed with maneuver."

Two blurs came out of the trees, crisscrossed between the men, and then disappeared. The two men fell to the ground and lay face down. Sasuke huffed, "Alright. We're clear."

"Let's move then, we're close."

Sasuke nodded, and then started sprinting northwards. He saw his teammates move overhead as if they were gliding. He joined up with them and the moved a kilometer north. At long last they found Point Alpha. It was a small cabin, it looked warm and safe. They came forward to it, and Naruto knocked on the door. "Who is it?" A male voice said gruffly.

"These things that are in line, things we can not be held accountable for, things we count fine, nor real itself. These are the Keys to Eternity," Naruto replied quickly.

The man opened the door, and said, "Come in, hurry."

They entered in, and sat in the man's living room. "So, you're the new Hokage, aren't you?"

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

"Me? Why, I'm the Gatekeeper."


End file.
